Word: microptera
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...latest advance in insect weaponry came to light while a team of Cornell University scientists was studying a flightless Southern grasshopper called Romalea microptera. During egg-laying periods, when the female Romalea has its large abdomen stuck in the soil, and at other times when the grasshopper is vulnerable to attack by ants, it noisily emits from openings in its thorax a foul-smelling, brownish froth that halts predator ants in their tracks. To find out why the liquid is so effective, the scientists, led by Biologist Thomas Eisner, extracted it from several hundred grasshoppers and analyzed its contents...
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